Ranma: A Romance
by dragonbharg
Summary: Trust me you are going to like it if you are a fan of ranma fluff. RanmaxNew-girl. Please review
1. Chapter 1

Ranma ½ does not belong to me. Some of the new characters that I will introduce will be mine AND ONLY MINE!!

This is not going to be an angst or an emo story. I hate em'. Hopefully I will make it as pleasant as possible. Please read the entire first chapter before you decide against it

**Chapter 1**

He gazed up into the starry sky as he lay on the roof, resting his back against the smoking chimney. It was cold yet he felt warm, at least warmer than the cold stares he had been receiving downstairs. He looked down at the half destroyed dojo and recalled the events of the last few hours. All that came to his mind was pain. He blinked as he felt something warm flow from his eyes. He put up his hand and stared at it against the background of the the dark, star filled sky. The night sky was something that calmed his mind. He liked to compare himself with it, which made all his troubles seem insignificant; which was a good thing. Staring at the sky was what that kept him sane in all the madness that surrounded him.

"Stupid Pervert!", he heard from somewhere. He put down his hand and tried to concentrate on the stars. He thought of using the mind of Ice from Hiryu Shoten Ha but that always made him feel lifeless and right now he wanted human comfort.

'Human comfort, huh!, when was the last time I felt it?', he thought and his eyes drifted towards his favorite constellation.

"Ugghh, No, can't think of you now….."

"Ranma—Wild Horse. I wonder why you gave me that name, Mom. Isn't a wild horse supposed to be free? Did you name me as a joke to the kind of life I was going to have? No but you wouldn't do that to me, Right! Mom?... I want to think that you love me, though you don't even give me a chance to be myself in front of you. Well it's not like anyone does…"

"Wrong!, Water does love me and Kuno…", he told himself sarcastically.

"Ranma-kun?" he heard a soft voice that always seemed to find him when he needed food.

"Yes Kasumi-ne", he tried to say but his voice cracked due to the lump in his throat.

"I have food for you if you'd like to eat. I don't think you have eaten anything since morning."

Ranma felt the hole in his stomach but, "Thanks…But..I am not hungry". He wanted his hunger to drown the pain in his heart.

After a long pause, "Alright than, I will put it in your usual place, away from you father. You can eat it when you want to"

Ranma heard Kasumi footsteps go away.

"Maybe…SHE loves me", he said aloud trying to push away the thought that to Kasumi it was all a sense of duty. "Atleast, she doesn't want anything from me"

"Hmmm, I don't know why I care about people loving me anymore. It's not like I have lived for myself since YOU", he blamed the group of stars he had been staring at.

"You'd probably say that I am the person to blame for most of my problems which I could have fixed if I wanted to. But all I want is people to not get hurt. People say that I am fickle and I don't want to choose anyone but you know that I don't love any of them. So I just left it for them to decide. I could probably end all this by saying three damn words. But it is the only thing in the world that I will never lie about. I tried it after Saffron but I realized I couldn't do it. It was too painful to say it even when I thought she wasn't listening. If only this wedding had somehow happened, at least I would have had some peace of mind if not freedom. But, stupid Nabiki had to decide she wasn't done with putting me through all the pain in the world. If, only my father dint freeload, I would have shown her place in her damn little world. Damn my honor, the only thing I still care about in this world, and it is the sole cause of my troubles. I can't give up on it as it the only thing that gives me a reason to live. Well I guess I can't complain, if I am not so stupidly attached to my honor I wouldn't be suffering this way. It's not like I can say that I am not in control of my destiny when I refuse to try and change it…"

Smack, bang, smack,

Ranma looked around the chimney and down to the dojo. Akane was pounding a very familiar looking doll with a pigtail. He cringed at the thought of how disfigured the doll would be once Akane was done through it. Not wanting to be spotted he went back to his hiding place behind the chimney. He remembered how he had barely escaped the punishment that the doll was going through now. That evening he had woken up in the middle of a destroyed dojo to find an angry Akane waiting for him to wake up so she could continue the pounding he had received from his other suitors. Luckily for him Kuno had shown up right at that moment to once again proclaim his love to Akane for the millionth time. Akane had gone ballistic on Kuno which had given Ranma enough time to crawl away and somehow escape to the roof. Akane had been searching for him for the past couple of hours but he had not shown himself up as he usually did. He felt that his body had had enough punishment for one day.

'Oink', 'Oink'; he heard a squeal. Ranma looked at the source and saw a cute piglet, with a bandana around its head and a steaming pot in its mouth, staring at him.

"What do you want? I am not in the mood for a fight.."

The piglet shook its head and pointed repeatedly at the pot which it had placed in front of Ranma.

"Alright I will change you but only if you promise to leave"

The piglet nodded and Ranma emptied the pot's contents over its head. He turned away as Ryouga started donning the clothes that he had somehow magically materialized (Both Ranma and Ryouga had mastered Mousse's technique to some extent), He did not particularly prefer seeing a naked male body besides his.

"Look man, I will leave but I actually came here to apologize. I have really given up on Akane and I only showed up to see if there was enough Nannichuan to cure me. I am sorry if I had caused you caused you any trouble"

Ranma gave him a strange look, "Are you sure you are not under any effects of the Phoenix?"

Rouga laughed, "Haha, If I was than it would be something that allowed me to see the truth. Look man, I had really given up on Akane and after what I saw today I really think that you don't deserve her either"

Ranma stared at Ryouga as if he misunderstood him but he shook his head and said, "Ryouga,I should tell you a truth. I don't really love Akane and or as a matter of fact any of my so called fiancés. If you really want Akane, you should propose to her and I will help you out too."

"Haha, thought you would misunderstand. Naww man! I dint mean it that way. I don't think anyone deserves Akane. I mean it in a bad way"

Ranma immediately stood up and started tapping on Ryouga's head.

Ryouga shoved Ranma's hand away, "Seriously, when I said that I could see the truth ,I wasn't just saying it. And you should sit down just in case so Akane doesn't spot you"

Ranma immediately sat down and Ryouga took a seat beside him.

"This is only going to take a minute so listen to me. I realized something when you were fighting with Saffron. When Saffron first awoke I was scared shitless but when you started fighting him I thought that you were doing it because you loved Akane. But, when I looked at your face I did not see a person fighting for love but a person who did not care. You felt like an emotionless assassin who did not fear his own death. You were fighting to kill because you wanted to save an innocent life. At first I thought that you had just been using your heart of Ice for Hiryuu Shoten Ha but I have been thinking for the past few days and from comparing your past actions I realized that you really didn't care about your life. I mean you wouldn't have let any of this madness continue unless you were incredibly stupid which I realize you are not. 

Another reason for me coming back was to confirm this. I thought I could help you out by telling Akane about this but I realized another truth after looking at her today. I don't know how I ever fell in love with her… Now I am scared about what strange things I might find about Akari.."

"Akari is a good girl…Except for her pig fetish. I think she really likes you. AND its NOT because you are a pig", Ranma said staring into the night sky again.

"Thanks man but I wanted to talk about you not me. But I don't think you want to discuss this…so I will leave. But, I will be there if you need a talk, if you can find me that is", Ryouga said as he got up.

Ranma nodded,

"I don't think I need to tell you this. But, whatever it is from the past that is making you suffer, you should try to live life a little more for yourself rather than your honor", Ryouga said as he jumped from the rooftop.

Ranma sighed, "If there was something that I ever wanted to live for I lost it with you, stupid HALEY. Why the heck did ya have to leave me", he said to himself and stared at Sagittaris's arrow as if it reminded him of some fond memories.

Hey people my first fanfic, though I have been reading them for quite a while. It's strange that a RanmaxAkane forever fan like me is writing a anti-Akane fic for his first one. But trust me she won't suffer from anything and she will undergo a change later in the story. I only made her bad cause I could not pair Ranma with someone else if she was good. The only character that might be put under serious punishment from me is Nabiki (never really like her) Oh ya and please review


	2. Chapter 2

Hey people here's chapter 2. Thank you for reading chapter 1. I don't think I can update faster than this. I am in college doing a double major (physics/ME) and two minors, so I've got too much work. I am scared about not finishing my H.W for tomorrow. Its 2A.M in the morning !! Anyway, Sorry about the spelling mistakes in chap 1, I was too cocky to proof read it. Please deal with some possible spelling errors again! Don't know if I corrected all of them…yawnnn…

Chapter 2

He was sitting in the middle of the hay meadow he adored. Piles of hay lay scattered around and a lush wheat plantation grew some distance away from him; beyond it, was a dense woodland. He listened to the heartening sounds of the bird calls and the energetic scurrying of the squirrels. He heard the hungry caws of the crows and an occasional eagle which scanned for an unfortunate creature of the rodent family.

He loved it all. He closed his eyes and gave out a long content sigh and a pair of soft, warm hands suddenly covered his eyes. He felt a chin rest on his head and something soft press against his back. He smiled.

'Guess who?', he heard an angelic voice and his smile widened. If anything filled his stomach more than food it was the voice.

'The master ninja who can sneak up on anyone in this world', he replied.

She LAUGHED and dropped her arms to surround his neck and leaned on his back, with her head still on top of his.

'You disgrace me Ranma! I guess I haven't trained you enough', she tried to imitate his father bt failed miserably, 'Aren't you supposed to be able to defend yourself even in your sleep?'

'What am I defending against?', he replied softly, 'Something my heart trusts more than my own hand?'

'Oh! You say the sweetest things to me!', she said and he felt the soft feeling rise up against his back. He saw a pair of hazel-grey eyes come down and he knew what was next. So, he closed his eyes to wait for the soft lips to touch his forehead.

'Ranma-kun', he felt a soft tapping on his forehead instead.

Ranma woke up to see Kasumi smiling at him. He smiled back. He did not resent Kasumi for waking him up. It was his favorite dream even though he had never felt the kiss in his dreams before. He only resented if his father or an angry Akane were the causes of his wakefulness.

'I thought I should wake you up as it is time for breakfast. … You haven't eaten anything since last morning so I was sorta…'

'I am ravenous Kasumi-ne. What's for breakfast?' Ranma asked brightly as he got up.

Kasumi gave him a surprised look. Then she looked up over his head and a knowing smile formed on her face.

'You look quite happy this morning Ranma! Dreamt anything good?'

Ranma blushed, 'S..Sorta….I will see you in a couple of minutes. Don't let pop take my share', he said hurriedly and jumped of the roof.

Kasumi smiled at Ranma's retreating form and climbed down the roof stairs.

OoOoOo

Ranma looked up at the sign of the shop and wondered how he had ended up there. PSYCHIC BABA – Know your Love Life.

The breakfast had gone as expected. Even though he had avoided looking Akane in the eye, he had felt Akane giving him the death glare throughout breakfast. So he had concentrated hard on his dream which had given him a glazed happy look throughout breakfast which had in turn made Akane even angrier. Later, he had been so indulged in enjoying his dream that he had forgotten to get onto the fence which Akane took as an excuse to call him 'A pervert' and had proceeded to vent all her stored up anger. As usual her final blow had been AIR AKANE which had taken him to Furinkan High 5 minutes earlier than usual. The good part about the flight was that he had been able to escape Shampoo as he sailed over her tinkering bike beside the river. He had even given her a sly wink not realizing that she mistook it for an invitation to his bed at night. The rest of the school day had not been any better as people had pestered him and Akane about the wedding which had made Akane angry at him again. The day had turned worse when all the girls had started condemning him for being a pervert, a playboy etc. He had always resented how the girls always took Akane's side (because she was never angry at them) even when it was apparently not his fault but he couldn't take it when in the lunch break he heard some girl say 'Why would someone even want to marry a freak like him. I don't understand why you girls like him'. Ranma remembered that the same girl had mooned over some partially naked photos of Ranma- courtesy of Nabiki-cam. So he had slammed some innocent good book on his table and left the classroom only to be pestered by the boys who all wanted to know whether he had done it with Akane. So he gave up on his classes (on which he had recently been concentrating – courtesy of his beloved mother) and went to sleep in the school hospital (The nurse never asked him any questions). He had been sleeping peacefully until he was woken up by a horde of very loud and noisy girls. Akane, Shampoo, Ukyo and Kodachi had all surrounded his bed and had started blabbering all at once. Ranma wondered where all the animosity they had shown each other yesterday had went. He had also been surprised and a little scared to see Yuka, Sayuri and a few other girls outside the hospital. Ranma was then told that they were all going to this new Yogi (saint) in town who was getting famous for predicting love life. Ranma had instantly become very apprehensive of it but could not find a way to escape from the four eager girls. 'So why do I have to come' he had asked.

'Well it's obvious, I want to show them that I am the one who you are going to marry' three of them had replied followed by another 'I want to know if I am going to marry a pervert like you'. After that he had tried calling 'Look! An Alien' and run away but he had been pounced on by four – hundred pounders and then dragged to the damned Yogi's place.

He sighed and looked at Hiroshi and Daisuke who were almost as out of place as him (they had been brought by Yuka and Sayuri) but they each only had one girl to deal with. They for some reason had avoided talking to him that day which Ranma had reasoned to have been caused by Yuka and Sayuri who happened to be a part of the anti-Ranma faction. So he turned away when they noticed that he was looking at them and looked at the group of four girls who weren't looking as excited as they had been earlier.

'Soooo are we going in?' Ranma asked in his 'annoying' tone. On the way there he had realized that he might as well try this out himself as he had nothing to lose. If the astro geek was any good he might atleast give him a clue and make him decide on someone (he was getting tired of waiting for the girls to fall in love with someone else).

'What are you so eager for? Ranma?' Akane asked suspiciously.

'Nothing, just wanted to get home quickly…', he hadn't felt like provoking Akane all day and did not feel like it then, 'I am hungry' he added quickly.

'Don't worry Ran-chan I am going to cook you something wonderful after this is done', said Ukyo.

'Ummm..that would be great' he smiled knowing that it would happen only if all the girls miraculously got the answers they wanted. 'Let's go in…Have you decided whose going first?' he quickly said before Kodachi and Shampoo started about feeding Ranma.

'ME' he heard four answers.

Again Ranma interrupted before a quarrel, 'WAIT, let's decide this by draw. I will make four chits and you go on whatever number you get.'

The four paused for a moment and nodded.

'Ok! let's get inside first', Ranma said and led the group inside. The shop was dimly lit and smelled of incense. A balding man of forty sat behind an ancient carved wooden desk with voodoo drawings. Ranma walked up to him and said, 'Hi, Sorry about this but I have twelve people with me.. uh oh 13 counting me. Can we all get in?'

'Haha, boy that's a Christian belief, Baba is Hindu…13 doesn't work on him… And yes you are all welcome but only one of you can go inside at a time', the man replied.

Ranma looked at him weirdly and said, 'Ok give me a moment'

He quickly got a book out of his bag, tore a page and divided it into four and made four chits out of it. He shuffled them in his hand and gave one to each of the four (not trusting them to even choose without a fight).

Kodachi—Shampoo—Ukyo—Akane, was the order and all of them were sorta satisfied with the order; well Kodachi was a bit jubilant.

'I will prove that I am the only right for you Ranma –sama', Kodachi declared and was about to go in when an idea struck Ranma.

'Wait, all of you promise that regardless of what sorta of an answer you get from Baba you are not going to reveal it until everyone has had their turn'

Kodachi was about to protest but dropped it as the other three nodded in agreement.

'Well I already know the answer he is going to give me', declared Kodachi and went inside.

'Ya, that you will fall in love with a Mental doctor!', Ranma muttered making everyone laugh. Kodachi was one female that everyone knew Ranma wasn't going to marry.

There was a silent pause for a minute after which Ukyo got up to go to the bathroom. Shampoo for some reason immediately followed her.

'Hopefully they aren't planning anything', Ranma muttered more to himself and Akane heard him.

'What's gotten into you today? Did I finally hit the right spot on your brain?'

'What do you mean?', Ranma asked trying to sound puzzled.

'Well you have somehow managed to stop us three times from fighting today and you are taking too much interest in this thing. Plus you somehow seem to be using your head more', Akane said

Ranma sighed. Regardless of what he sometimes thought of Akane he knew that she had a sensitive side and she could always catch him acting differently than normal which if he thought back was not at all normal to him a couple of years ago.

'Oh well! I am hoping that this would finally take care of this fiancé mess for me. I apologize for the trouble they caused at the wedding and I don't want such a thing to happen in the future' Ranma said quietly.

'It's fine Ranma', she said and gave him her famous smile.

Ranma smiled back. He liked that smile a lot which sometimes made him wonder how things would have been with Akane if he had not met Her. Maybe he would have fallen for her. 'Naaaa…', he told himself, 'She is too much of a macho chick and I can't imagine falling for her with all that beating'. (A masochist Ranma in an alter-Universe who hadn't met Her sneezed --  we all know who this is)

Shampoo and Ukyo returned and Ranma did not like the smiles on their faces. Ukyo noticed this and said, ', she looked at Akane which Akane did not notice.

Kodachi came bursting out of the door and Ranma did not like what he saw. She was definitely happier than when she went inside and was bursting to reveal something.

Shampoo gave Kodachi a scared look and went inside. Kodachi stood opposite to them giving Akane and Ukyo a superior look. 'She probably misinterpret something', Ranma told the girls, trying more to reassure himself. He might not care about his life but he did not hate it.

Shampoo returned and she had as happy of an expression as Kodachi. Ranma was torn between feeling relieved and scared; Shampoo was the second last choice. Now that he thought about it Akane might have been his only choice all along. He liked Ukyo but he thought of her as a boy.

Ukyo went in and came back happy too. Ranma was now feeling quite relieved. The hermit was probably giving vague answers like 'You will marry the one you want'.

Akane went in and after a few agonizing minutes she came out with an expression that she usually had when Ranma did something nice to her.

'Okay, What the heck did he tell you? Tell me in your order exactly what he said. Don't change anything!'

'You will marry the man who saves your life, Remember! Ranma-sama…the first day I met you, you saved me from falling! See you are marrying me'

Ranma gave a 'phew' of relief. He had never saved or was going to try to save Kodachi's life. That day he had only protected her from falling into the Koi pond and he still regretted it.

'You will marry the person whom your law wants you to marry. Tribe law say Ranma Shampoo's husband', replied Shampoo coyly.

Ranma din't have an answer for that. He turned to Ukyo.

'You will marry a childhood friend who is very close to you. He is sometimes a girl'

'Akane?', Ranma asked hesitantly

'You will marry someone whom you will not like initially. He will stay in your house and both of you will fall in love eventually!'

Ranma did not wait. He rushed and shouted 'Damn you old man. I am not going to marry four people. Tell me did my mother hire you or something?'

He heard an ancient sounding guffaw as the door closed behind him.

'Are you the Ranma the four girls are infatuated with?', Ranma heard from a chair which was turned away from him.

'Yes...I don't think Akane is…'

'Well, kid if my descriptions matched you perfectly you are going to be a man with four wives. But you know there can always be someone else who might do the same things to them. So let me see your hand and see if you are indeed the lucky man with four wives'.

The chair swung around and Ranma was be fronted by an ancient looking Indian sage who looked older than Happosai. He had a long beard and strangely wore clothes that matched principal Kuno's.

Ranma slowly looked into the old man's eyes and found them staring at his hand puzzled, amazed and somewhat shocked.

'Child, you have already fallen in love with someone else haven't you?... You have a soul mate child and I am amazed at its intensity and its form'

Ranma's eyes widened like saucers. 'What do you mean? Soul mate? How do you know?'

'You have a red string of fate', and looked at Ranma's left little finger.

Ranma looked at his finger and muttered 'Hayley' though he could not see anything. 'She is dead though!'

OoOoOoOoOo

That's all for now Folks. But BOOOOOOOO at all of you. Only three reviews…Where are all the romantic readers. Why does the bleach fic above mine have 30 while I have 3!! (not that I have anything against Bleach). Anyway, please take time to review it if you read my fic. I want to know if my writing style is satisfactory. Tell me if I can improve something and make my stories better to read.


	3. Chapter 3

Sorry about the late update readers. Had 5 tests over the last week. I have one tomorrow too but w/e.

Chapter 3

_PAST – (Ranma's age : will turn 14 soon, Date: November 22nd ) _

Ranma hugged himself and shuddered as he trudged through the narrow lanes of the damp Malaysian city. The misty evening rain somehow managed to creep through his flimsy rain jacket and made him shiver. He tried not to look at the crabby old moms giving him averse looks from the gloomy old brick buildings.

'Why do people have to always mistrust people from other countries?', he thought to himself as he saw a mother usher her child away from his path.

'Oh common! I am a fourteen year old for Buddha's sake! What can I possibly be planning? ', he muttered to himself

'AND DAMN YOU WEATHER'

The dampness, the dreary streets and the chill wind were making him feel quite cranky. He was supposed to find a weapon shop but he had somehow managed to get himself lost and had ended up a couple of kilometers from where he was heading.

A good natured old man had pointed him in the right direction, when he had found himself in a cloth store trying to take shelter from a sudden downpour.

'Stupid Oyaji! Why the heck did we have to come to Malaysia during the rainy season?'

He had asked his father the same question and he had received an expected answer, something about how he had to make his body stronger. He shivered again as he thought of the training he had had that morning. His father had made him meditate under the icy cold water of a waterfall while he sat and ate a roasted fish that Ranma had caught.

'Wish I hadn't done this today', he thought as he imagined his pop sleeping comfortably in the cozy cave that they had found near the waterfall. He wished he was in front of the fire eating more roasted-salted fish instead of getting himself wet.

A couple of days ago he had a sudden inspiration to learn how to use a weapon. The cause of this inspiration was probably him being almost defeated in the hands of a friend he had made while they were in India. Bhatta (the Indian kid) was a bow staff user and Ranma was so bothered about his weak win because Bhatta had never even come close to touching him in hand-hand combat. 'Weapons are for girls! Boy!', Genma had told him when he had first voiced his feelings, but Ranma had somehow managed to talk his way through it. Besides he did not want to become an expert at using weapons he just wanted to get a feel of them and understand them.

As he debated over going back and getting some sleep before his father woke him up at 5:00 AM, he spotted a shop that looked like it would sell weapons. He could not read the sign on the shop but he saw sickles, crowbars, axes and other tools displayed outside the shop. As he neared the shop he even found an air gun shelved behind the glass windows.

'Finally! If this shop doesn't sell weapons I don't know where in Malay they would. Oooo there's a nunchaku over there, Maybe I will find something good…' Ranma skipped over a muddy puddle in the front of the shop and tried to open the door

Wham!

The door he was going to open had suddenly opened by itself and hit him in the face. Taken by surprise Ranma lost his balance and fell on his butt in the puddle. Ranma felt the water soak into his pants and he finally lost his temper.

'What the f..', he raised his head and voice. His head froze and his voice faded away as he looked into a pair of deep hazel blue eyes.

'I am really sorry! Are you…' and she looked into his sparkling brown eyes.

1 minute…

2 minutes…

3 minutes..

'Dear, Could you wipe the snot of lil' Musa's face?'

And that broke them out of their trance. The eyes looked away from Ranma as if they were blushing. Ranma looked at the feminine face to which the eyes belonged, but he was disappointed. Her face was completely covered with black cloth except for her eyes.

'I am so sorry..I was in a hurry…the door..I didn't notice..Are you fine?', she mutered a string of words. All Ranma heard was a pleasant soothing voice, it wasn't shrill like any of the girls (of his age) he had met so far. Ranma just nodded and stared.

The eyes began to blush again but suddenly seemed to realize something.

'Oh my God! I am going to be late. I am sorry about this but I am in a real hurry. Please forgive me!'

Ranma nodded again.

'Thanks! Byeeee', and the girl ran in the direction Ranma had come from while Ranma sat in the puddle and stared at her retreating form and her flowing grayish-brown hair, feeling quite warm inside.

OoOoOoOoOoOoO

_Present_

'DEAD!!', the old Baba exclaimed.

Ranma cringed.

'Oh! I am really sorry. But, are you sure boy? Cause I have never seen a red string of love connected to a dead person.'

Ranma nodded and looked down. 'Yes', he replied slowly. 'I saw her…'

'Oh my! Such tragedy in such a young life'

'HuhHA, you know nothing!', Ranma said with a cynical laugh.

'Hmmmm, I don't understand the existence of the string of fate though. Maybe I've never met a person whose fated person has died. Maybe that's why the string goes straight up. Maybe she is connected to you from heaven'

'Hey look! Can we drop this? All I want to know is if you can give me some clue about who I am going to marry. Not like I believe in astrologers but I am getting tired of all these girls chasing after me'

The old man's expression changed almost instantly. The jovial smile changed so quickly into an angry frown that Ranma was shocked.

'WHAT do you mean? Are you planning on marrying one of those girls when your heart already belongs to someone else?'

'I am honor bound to marry them…'

'HONOR BOUND! Honor bound to do what? Lie to a girl that you will love her for the rest of your life? Honor bound to make another woman suffer for your sake?'

Ranma's eyes grew wide as realized the truth of the statement. 'She wanted me to marry and be happy…', Ranma's ego protested silently.

The Baba's expression became softer, 'What she meant was you to forget her and move on in life not force yourself to marry a random person. So can you forget her? As long as the string of fate is attached you can't'

'So what am I supposed to do?'

'I don't know boy, that's for you to decide. But…. trust me, she sure did not want you to be unhappy. So try to get the most out of your life without hurting anyone. That is all I can tell you.'

Ranma nodded and stared down at the floor.

'So if you are done I've got other customers waiting', the Baba said with a smile.

'Hey you didn't tell me any of my future!!'

'I can't predict the fate of a person who has a red string of fate. They control their own destinies atleast their own love lives'

'Hmmmm, So I want my money back', Ranma replied Nabiki style.

'What goes into the piggy bank doesn't come out boy. Besides, I told you about your string of fate, so get going'

'Alright! Alright, I will go, Bye and thanks for the advice', Ranma said as he turned back to the door. He was going to do a lot of roof-top thinking that night.

'Oh ya kid, Try not to think too much about honor and live life more for yourself', the old man said to his back.

Ranma remembered hearing the same words elsewhere.

'Did Ryouga meet you by any chance? You know a weird lost kid with a yellow bandana on his head.'

'Maybe…'

Ranma smiled to himself as he closed the door behind him.

'Hmmm, A kid with no fate lines and a string of love pointing straight into the heavens. I need to talk to the guru about this', the old man muttered to himself as the door closed behind him.

xxxxx

Ranma's smile vanished like a wisp of smoke as soon as he looked at the four eager faces waiting for him. Suddenly, the truth behind the old man's words struck him. He had been toying with the lives of four women. 'Sorta…', he added to himself. He stared at the people surrounding him, dazed and blinking like an idiot.

'What did he say?', was the chorus around the room.

Ranma looked down and slowly walked to the door. No one stopped him as he took the door knob. He quickly turned back putting on his mischievous expression. He stuck his tongue out, pulled his eye and said, 'Biida, I am not gonna marry any of you'.

He opened the door and escaped into the evening streets. He didn't bother to listen to the uproar behind him. After a running for a while he slowed down and found himself in a local park. He looked around and found a lonely bench away from the couples and sat down to think.

'_I guess that was the first step to telling them the truth, even though they probably mistook it'_

'ahhhhhhhh Hay, How do I do this? Do I just go and tell each one of them that I can't marry any of them? How can I do this without hurting them? If you are truly in heaven then why can't you send me advice through the string of fate…?' Ranma said aloud and looked into the sky, but it was too early for what he was looking for. So he decided to wait for the constellation to become visible.

'Hello Ranma-kun, what are you doing here all by yourself? I thought you would be with the rest of the gang'

Ranma looked up to the pleasant voice which always brought a smile on his face. Kasumi was holding her usual grocery bag and smiling at him as the setting sun formed a halo behind her head.

'Just thinking Ka-nei…What's for dinner tonight?'

'Haven't decided yet. Maybe curry chicken and tofu. Mind if I sit here?'

'Awesome…tell me if you need any help with the veggies. I sorta don't feel like training tonight'

Kasumi nodded and sat down placing the basket between them. Both of them stared at the setting sun.

'So what's bothering you Ranma?'

Ranma turned to Kasumi and saw her staring at his hand. He suddenly remembered something,

'Ka-nei Can you see my red string of fate?' he asked abruptly.

Kasumi looked at him shocked but quickly recovered,

'How did you come to know about it?'

'So you can see it huh. As for how I know about it, the fiancé brigade forced me to meet this old Baba…', and Ranma recounted his encounter.

'Hmmmm, and how did you realize that I could see it as well?'

'I don't know. You always seem to know when I am feeling down and I always find you staring at my hand. You even look into the sky sometimes and that's where the string goes', Ranma replied.

Kasumi nodded.

'But what I don't understand is why dint you tell me this before?', Ranma asked.

After a long pause, 'I didn't want my little brother to leave. Tell me Ranma would you have stayed if you knew the implications of the string of fate?'

'No I wouldn't have….'

'But…', Ranma continued, 'What about when we first met. Why dint you reveal it? Did you want Akane to marry someone who could never love her?'

'From the way you two were acting I dint think Akane would fall in love with you.' she answered.

'Akane loves me?', Ranma asked perplexed, 'But forget about that! How was I like your brother then? Don't tell me you sympathized a stranger over your sister's life', Ranma asked in a blaming voice.

Kasumi sighed and after a pause, 'I guess it's time to reveal the truth Ranma. Akane is the one who is like my little sister. You ARE my little brother'

OoOoOo

Thanks for reading the fic people. Please keep reviewing and don't hesitate to give me advice. Please tell me if I could make any changes in the writing style that could make the fic better to read. Thanks for all the previous reviews. Hopefully you find an improvement in my writing in every chapter  'Tata' for now and I will try to update the next chappie by next Sunday.

Fic dedicated to

Hay meadow – cascade - dodd


	4. Chapter 4

Ello People. I am back with a longer chappie. (Just for you Rose! ) Hope you enjoy it

Chapter 4

_Past: November 24__th__ : Evening around 6:00 P.M_

"Damn stupid Oyaji", Ranma muttered to himself for the umpteenth time that day as he tried to gather some dried wood for their fire. Ranma and his father had camped for that night in a small clearing in the middle of a forest at outskirts of Bangkok so he was trying to find some firewood before sunset. Genma had wanted to get as soon as possible to Bangkok so they could stowaway on one of the flights to Taiwan, though why he wanted to go there was still a mystery to Ranma.

'Why the heck are we leaving already? Baka pop! Wasn't I supposed to master SUffering in RAIN?' Ranma had asked his adamant father when he had got back from his futile attempt to find a weapon in that 'stupid' shop.

'Shut up boy! An excellent opportunity came up….you will find out soon. Besides, I thought you dint like this place' had been his father's reply.

"Well! I just felt it was a waste of travelling all the way to Malaysia and then decide on leaving without accomplishing anything", Ranma tried to give an explanation to himself as he threw another twig into his backpack. But what he said out aloud lost its meaning as a pair of hazel-grey eyes flashed through his mind.

"Damn! I really wanted to look into more shops in that city", Ranma shook his head and told himself again.

Suddenly he heard a scurrying noise at some distance and he lifted his head to listen more closely. His father had warned him about bears but the scurrying was too light to be a bear. Without a warning a white form burst out of the trees and crashed into him.

Ranma opened his eyes to see a pair of scared hazel-grey eyes staring down at him. The eyes calmed down as they looked at him.

"Keep running, she is still going that way. She is trying to get to the river", Ranma heard a man shout from the direction the girl had come, and a more voices responded.

The frightened look returned to the eyes and with one last look into Ranma's eyes the girl quickly pushed herself to her feet and darted forward. Ranma lay dazed for a moment but with only a quick look into the forest he got up to his feet started sprinting after her white form. As Ranma looked at her back, he realized that she was wearing white ninja clothes which explained the white cloth that had been covering her mouth and her head. There was also a bow hanging across her shoulder to hip and quiver full of arrows on her back.

'An archer huh… damn she's fast', Ranma thought to himself. He was going at full speed yet he was having trouble maintaining the distance between them, let alone catching up and Ranma had been very proud of his speed.

Ranma couldn't tell if the girl realized that he was following her but she did not look back or showed signs of slowing down and she was gaining ground bit by bit. But, before he could shout out to her to slow down the girl suddenly skidded to a halt on the dried leaves. Ranma looked at the cause of her sudden halt to see two huge men standing a few feet from her with their arms spread and grinning like idiots.

Ranma saw the girl freeze a bit. "Duck", he shouted to her as he covered the 10 yards between them.

As soon as Ranma was a couple of feet behind her she ducked as Ranma jumped and flew across her head. The two men could only stare in shock as Ranma's feet collided with their faces. They crumpled to the ground, knocked out, and Ranma safely landed on his feet.

Ranma turned around and smiled at the girl.

"What are you doing?" the girl asked with guarded eyes as she cautiously walked towards.

"Helping you out" Ranma replied without a thought. He immediately grabbed her hand and started running again.

"To the river, Right?" Ranma asked as he recalled how far it exactly was.

"Yes" came a huff reply.

It would take them five minutes to get there with their speed but Ranma was scared at how many men might be laying in ambush before then. The only advantage he had was the setting sun. His trained senses had an advantage over the other men in the dim light.

"What then?"

"I have someone waiting with a boat"

"Nice! I promise I will get you there safely" Ranma said resolutely. Ranma hoped that the girl's pursuers weren't already there, otherwise he would have to try and take the girl back towards his father. His dad might be an idiot but he was good at escaping these sorts of situations.

They could hear the men slowly catching up to them.

"How the heck are they so fast?" Ranma asked more to himself than the girl.

"The five that are catching up are trained assassins", the girl finished her sentence and a ninja-guy leapt through a bush from the side and swung his short blade at Ranma.

Ranma saw the glint of the blade before he saw the man, so he ducked pulling the girl down with him. The sword swept over them and Ranma's right foot found the man's groin. He usually did not like such cheap shots but 'Hey! they are assassins' he thought to himself as he realized guiltily that he was enjoying the situation.

The man grunted in pain as he fell to the ground clutching his unmentionables as Ranma pushed back up with his other leg and started to run again.

"Do they want you alive or dead?" after a couple of minutes

"Alive" "I think…" she added as an afterthought.

"Good! I can use you as a shield"

"HEY!" the girl cried out in protest but did not continue as they burst out of the forest thicket to the bank of the river.

No sooner, two forms flitted past them and stood a few feet in front of them. Ranma observed a boat and another white form in it, as he held his ground before the two masked men in black. He gauged their strength as both of them removed a katana each from their backs. They would be caught up by the others if he didn't act quickly

"Finally caught you, you little twerps"

Without giving the two men a chance to goad or say anything else Ranma pushed the girl forcefully towards them and followed behind crouching low behind her back. As Ranma had expected, the two men lowered their swords to prevent avoid hurting the girl.

The men looked startled at the girl tumbling towards them, but realized too late about what was happening as Ranma suddenly stepped from behind the girl's back. He threw a right kick at the man to his right and used the momentum and the push against his head to do a turning side kick against the other man. As the two slumped to the ground he used his two elbows on their heads for good measure.

"That was using you as a shield" Ranma turned and said to the girl who was sitting with her legs sprawled and looking as if the air had been knocked out of her.

"Sorry", Ranma added with a smile.

The girl gave him a disgruntled look as Ranma grabbed her hand again and rushed towards the boat. The white form turned out to be another female in similar white ninja clothes but she looked much older.

They waded a few yards into the shallow water (which reached to their knees) before they reached the woman and the boat.

Ranma helped the girl climb unto the boat and gave the boat a hard shove to set it moving forward. The older woman started using the paddle as the girl looked back at Ranma. He could see the worry in her eyes.

"Aren't you coming?" the girl shouted from the drifting boat.

Ranma shook his head, "Have a pop to get back to. I was just trying to be the friendly neighborhood hero". He had been reading too much of spider-man comics.

The girl's eyes suddenly widened. She pulled out her bow, put an arrow to it, took aim and shot at him, all in a matter of a second. Ranma had time only to look, as the arrow whizzed past his head. He looked behind to see the arrow sticking out of a ninja's neck. The ninja had his katana raised and ready to strike but the arrow had reached him before he reached Ranma. 'I guess that was for shoving you' he thought to himself as the ninja fell, face first, into the water.

Ranma turned around to see the girl waving and motioning him to get out of there. He heard a lot of voices. He turned back to see torches and men pouring out of the trees. There were atleast twenty of them. Ranma sprinted out of the water and sprinted away from the men along the bank.

"Forget the boy!" he heard a shout behind him. Ranma turned to see that the few men that had started after him stop join the others. Ranma looked back to the boat. The girl was still looking at him. He waved a goodbye to her and after she waved back, he turned and sprinted into the forest.

'Hopefully they don't get caught. Wonder what I should say to pop about not having any wood for the fire', Ranma thought as he made his way back to his father when a sudden realization struck him.

"She killed him!"

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Ranma could only stare at Kasumi, dazed, as he tried to comprehend what she had just said.

"W..Whatt do you mean Kasumi?"

"Just what I said. You are my brother"

"I know… But what did you mean by Akane being 'like a sister' and me being your brother?" Ranma asked fervently as he tried to see if he had miscomprehended Kasumi's words.

Kasumi shook her head and she smiled a little at Ranma's confusion.

"Ranma…listen...You are my brother! Akane and Nabiki aren't my real sisters", Kasumi let the words sink in.

After a few seconds, Ranma's brain accepted Kasumi's words. The sun had set and the stars were slowly starting to become visible in the sky.

"But…How?" Ranma's voice finally decided to come back after its initial shock.

"Hmmmm..I guess I have to tell you the whole story. I knew this day would come but I never thought it would be so soon." Kasumi looked into the sky, "Looks like your favorite constellation isn't out yet"

"How do you know that?"

"How many times have I seen you stare at one spot in the night sky."

Ranma looked at Kasumi and observed her smile to the stars. If there was one person besides his mother whom he knew that really cared about him, it was Kasumi. He had always thought Kasumi was just being a traditional host.

"Natsumi, my mother was a nurse in Hokkaido. Genma met her when he was recovering from huge fight. He had received a couple of broken ribs and a broken leg so he was in hospital for a week during which my mother nursed him back to health."

"Whoa pop had a real fight. I always thought he was a wimp and ran away from fights"

"No Ranma, Father… I mean Genma isn't all that bad. I think he became a wimp after he started protecting you as a father. If he was so useless do you think he could invent all those amazing techniques? ….at least the good ones" Kasumi defended and ignored Ranma's soft 'I know that'.

"So while she was nursing him, both of them started falling for each other so after Genma got out they started dating each other. Things were going well for a month before Genma had to go on a trip to Okinawa. During this time Mom fell very sick and during the examinations doctors found out that she had a severe case of lung cancer and that she wouldn't live for more than three years"

"Did my idiot Father leave her for that? I am gonna pound him"

"Ranma! Give you father some credit. Genma and mother really liked each other back then, so when Genma rushed back after hearing she had been sick, my mom acted as if everything was fine. But, after a week she dumped Genma saying that she had had enough with him. Genma was shocked at Mom's words but Mom acted like a bitch and told him to go away and never show her face to him again."

"What! Why would she do that?"

"Think about it Ranma, what would you do? Mom loved Genma so she didn't want him to get too attached to her. She knew he wouldn't leave if he came to know about her sickness which would only make it harder for him when she died. So she decided to let him go."

"Can't believe idiot pop got this much love"

Kasumi shook her head at Ranma and continued. "But, what Mom did not know then was that I was already inside her. She only realized it after Genma left and as you know him she couldn't find for three years."

Kasumi paused for a bit and looked at Ranma who was listening closely. She wondered how he was going to take all this.

"She finally found where Genma was living in her deathbed. So a few days before she died, she wrote Genma a letter and sent me to him. But, Genma was already engaged to auntie Nodoka and their marriage was only a week away when I arrived. Back then auntie Nodoka was supposed to be more traditional than she is now, so Genma was scared that she would not marry him if she came to know about me. Not knowing what to do he went in search of his oldest friend, Tendo, only to find that he had already married and was expecting a child very soon. Genma told the Tendo's about his problem who readily adopted me as their first child. I was told the truth by Mrs Tendo just before she passed away. She had always treated me like her own child and her last wish was for me to take care of Akane and Nabiki. Since then I waited for you to come back from your training trip. Akane and Nabiki are still my sisters, Ranma, but you are my real brother…. More like I am your bastard sister"

Kasumi looked at Ranma who was staring dumbfounded. There was an emotion in his eyes that she could not figure. A single tear slipped from her eyes and she continued "So I will understand if you don't want to see me again or something like that…I can even move away from the Tendos…"

Ranma's heart gave a lurch when he saw the tear from Kasumi's eyes. As the meaning behind Kasumi's words sank in he closed the distance between them in an instant and gave her a sideways hug, resting his head on her shoulder.

"What the heck are you saying Ka-nee. I always loved you as a sister and now that I know you are my sister, you think I am gonna let you go" Ranma said with a quivering voice. He could not control his emotions on finding out that he had a sister but it was a good feeling. It brought a little more life back into his heart. Now he had two people to live for and protect – his mother and his sister.

"You are now under the first priority protection of Ranma Saotome!"Ranma added in a comical tone.

Kasumi gave out a small giggle and ruffled Ranma's hair. "Thanks Ranma…. Look! your constellation is out"

Ranma turned his head on Kasumi's shoulder and looked at the Sagittarius. It was shining brighter than usual and it brought warmth to his heart.

"HENTAI", the two siblings heard a scream

As an impulse Ranma released Kasumi and stood up. He saw Akane fuming at him from the road that led through the park. Ranma's first impulse was to scram but he stood his ground. He wasn't going to let Akane spoil something between them siblings.

Getting her mallet out Akane rushed towards Ranma to impound her punishment. Ranma stopped the blow with one hand. Akane stared at him confused; Ranma never stopped her blows. But, her anger quickly overcame her confusion

"So this is what you were up to, Ranma. How DARE you hit on my sister! Take your punishment like a man" she pulled the mallet back and tried to bring it down again. Ranma's hand stopped it again.

"Shut up Akane" Ranma said with a cold voice. "You don't have the right to be protecting Kasumi. All you are is a temperamental, jealous and arrogant twerp. All you do is use Kasumi as a maid. She does your washing, cooks you food and looks after you, but have you ever tried to understand her? Have you ever wondered why she acts so nonchalant all the time? You go to her with your problems but did you ever try to see if something was bothering her? She may be trying her best to be like a mother to you two but she is not your MOTHER! AKANE. She is just another girl a few years older to you. So the next time you run into someone trying to show your sister some brotherly compassion, try to think about how much love you have actually shown to your sister". With that Ranma pulled the mallet out of Akane's hand and threw it aside, letting his words sink in.

"Ranma… you shouldn't have"

"She had it coming nee-san. I would have let her hit me if it was someone else. Anyway I will see you back home" he retorted quickly picking up Kasumi's basket.

"Ranma don't reveal this to auntie Nodoka…" Kasumi added worriedly as Ranma turned his back towards her.

"Sure…for now" Ranma replied and sprinted towards the Tendo Dojo, leaving Kasumi to bring back a dazed Akane.

"Now how would Mom react on me having a sister who is not her child", Ranma muttered to himself as he rushed back home.

OoOoOoOoOoOo

Later that night

_Ranma was running as fast as he could though he did not know why. Moonlight seeped through the leaves of the thick forest canopy but Ranma could see only a few feet in front of him._

"_Ranma... Help!" he heard the voice he loved the most. He realized why he was running and his speed automatically increased._

"_Ranma… Help!" he heard the voice again. 'She is close' he thought_

_He suddenly burst out of the trees. He looked at a familiar pond. He had stepped in on Hayley while she was taking a bath a few years ago. He looked deeper into the pond and sure enough he saw Her in the bathing garment he had seen her a few years ago; A white cloth covering half her body. But, she did not have the look of surprise he remembered seen on her face. She was staring down into the water and a shadow covered her face. He stared at her as she did not show any signs of drowning. Her pink lips did not smile at him._

"_Help! Ranma…" her lips moved and she dived underwater._

"_Nooooo…" Ranma screamed and jumped into the pool. He remembered the particular spot to be very deep. He swam with swift hard strokes and reached the spot and dived in. It was pitch dark and he could not see her. He kept pushing with his legs to go deeper. _

_After about twenty feet he still could not see her and he was running out of air. He did not rise up and kept pushing down. All he wanted was to feel her hand. _

_Suddenly his hand felt something soft – like skin. His lungs gave way, he could not see but he knew what he was touching._

Ranma bolted upright in his bed. He was drenched in sweat. The room was quite chill and he was gasping for air. His head throbbed with pain and he felt a soft hand patting on his back.

Ranma turned around swiftly to find Kasumi looking at him with a worried face.

"I was coming down for a drink of water when I heard you screaming. Are you alright? You looked as if you were having trouble breathing", Kasumi said softly.

Ranma nodded slowly and looked at his panda of a father. 'He can sleep through anything', he thought to himself.

"I think I am going to be fine. Thanks nee-san"

"Alright then. Here! Have some water" Kasumi offered her glass to Ranma and got up to leave.

"I never had a nightmare about her" Ranma said slowly to Kasumi's back.

Kasumi turned back and smiled at Ranma. "Want to talk about her?"

0o0o0o0o0o

So howz tat? More reviews please. Huh…I have to get back to studying..life's hard for a double major with a dual minor . I 'might' be changing the stories title to '7 heavens'. So look out for that though I haven't decided how appropriate that title is. Please gimme all the reviews that I can get. It gives me a boost to write.

And don't hesitate to point out mistakes.

As for the minor spelling errors, I don't know how the heck that I can't find them!!

_Fic dedicated to Hay meadow – cascade - dodd_


	5. Chapter 5

Ello people!! I am sorry for the looooooooooooooooong wait. Busy with school as usual (I know the excuse is getting old). Anyway here is chapter 5 (you might get chapter 6 within a day)

Here's a summary of what happened if any of you have forgotten.

Present

Ranma has a love from the past. He knows that she is dead but he cannot forget her, which is the reason why he still strings on all the fiancé's. He keeps having dreams about her and a fortuneteller/baba tells him that he is still connected to a red string of fate with someone (usually they disappear when one of the pair dies). He also finds out that Kasumi is his sister and Akane walks in on them when they are hugging each other. Ranma stops Akane before she goes mallet-sama on both of them and he reprimands her of her behavior.

Past

Ranma encounters a girl a couple of times in his travels across Asia. He only sees her eyes both the times so he doesn't even know if it is the same person. He keeps seeing the eyes both in waking and sleep dreams.

Chapter 5

Past : November 30th : 3:30 P.M

When Genma had mentioned about catching a flight at Bangkok, Ranma had thought they were going to a western country or similar. But, Ranma blew his fuse when Genma forced him to get on a plane back to Japan. "What the heck! Why the heck did we walk all the way to Malyasia if you just wanted to catch a flight back home BAKA POP", he had shouted at his father. "Quiet boy! I have been trying to get into this ancient Japanese village since before I started training you. Now that we are actually being invited there, we cannot waste time" Genma had replied to him.

****

Ranma kicked at a protruding root as he followed his pop's stained Gi. He would have never guessed that his father actually kept in contact with all those masters they had visited – atleast the ones that they had not ended up robbing. It had been one of those few masters that had contacted them about the invitation.

"So what are we being invited for?" Ranma asked his father's back. They had been combing all the forests in Okinawa for the past three days- All they had received from Genma's accomplice was a small figurine with four faces facing four directions. Three of the four faces resembled Buddha, Vishnu, Christ and the fourth face was void of facial features.

Ranma gave out a loud sign of resignation. The figurine had aroused his curiosity a few days ago, but their futile attempts to find the damn village had chased away any interest he had in the place. Besides, he had seriously started doubting even the existence of the place. The only information that they had on its location was that it was somewhere in the middle of a forest in Okinawa - it was more than likely that it was one of his father's hare-brained ideas, hopefully it did not lead to another cat-fu training.

"How's the figurine supposed to help us find the place? Pop! If it was just 'somewhere' in Okinawa why dint we do this earlier"

"There are barriers, boy! The figurine negates them. You can find the place only if you have it"

Ranma shook his head at his father. He had often pondered on his father's sanity but this was going over the top. He believed in Ki and all, but magic and barriers were just ridiculous.

'_I should have left him that day'_ Ranma thought to himself as a pair of eyes that had been haunting him in his recent dreams flashed through his mind – One of the reasons he hadn't wanted to come back to Japan – probably the only one. '_Definetely Western! What the hell am I thinking about? Why can't I forget those eyes? I can't be in L o v e, can I? Common I haven't even see her face! Besides she might not even be the same person'_

"FINALYY!!" he heard Genma's excited voice which broke him out of his pondering. Ranma's eyes searched for Genma but he couldn't see him. All that there was in front of him was a wall of trees that did not leave any space to go forward. The trees looked almost creepy, sticking out in random directions – making up for the gaps as if they were melted together.

"Pop" he muttered slowly as he took small steps forward and finally touched a tree.

'_Feels normal…'_ "Aaaah" he tried to muffle a scream as his Father's hand randomly appeared out of the tree and snatched his hand, pulling him in.

"What did I tell you? Boy! Take a look at that! Maybe now you'll respect your father more"

A wooden fortress was the closest Ranma came to describing the scene that be-fronted him as he lay sprawled on the forest floor. Ranma blinked like a fool as he took in a thirty foot wooden barricade which stretched infinitely on either side.

"Howww do we get in? Pop?", Ranma asked his father in a hoarse voice.

"Excited now, aren't ya? Let's just walk along barricade until we see an entrance", Genma replied as he observed the forest fortress.

"Why don't we just climb it?"

"Hmmm, I don't think we should. I am pretty sure it is magically protected and besides I don't think it would please village heads if we get in by scaling the walls. So let's get going boy! Hopefully they treat us with a feast", Genma replied with a drooling look as he started walking.

Ranma sighed as he got up and dusted his back. _'Always comes back to feeding your overlarge belly doesn't it? Anyway, I think I am looking forward to seeing what's inside if it's making pop this serious' _Ranma thought to himself as he fell into his father's footsteps.

****

"So care to give an explanation about this place, pop? I don't think they would want your student to be ignorant would they?" Ranma asked his father after a couple hours of silent and tedious traipsing along wooden wall.

"Fine, I guess I could tell you a little. This city is called Kamitoshi1. It's probably one of the oldest cities in Japan though only a few know about its existence. It's a legend to most martial artists and getting invited to the city is like winning a gold medal in the Olympics. They only invite the best of the best and give a formal training for two months"

"That's not very long…"

"Yes! Only a few of the invited actually become students here. But I don't want you to become one, even though it's a chance to make you into a 'junsei'2 master cause they basically turn you into monks" Genma said with a distant look in his eyes (probably thinking about what Nodoka would do to him if she learnt about her son becoming a monk)

"What's a junsei master?" Ranma asked overlooking his father's 'look'.

"Junsei master is the highest level of martial arts mastery. They give you the title if you have no equal in your form of martial arts."

Ranma had a brief vision of a white clad warrior gliding over tree tops.

"Anyway, there are thirteen such masters in world right now and two of them are rumored to reside in this city. Maybe you can woo them into teaching you something useful. After all you have my good looks."

Ranma managed to prevent himself from gagging. He liked to think that he did not look anything like his father. The few times he had the chance to observe himself in a mirror he thought he was pretty handsome. The whole point of his pony tail was to look as unlike his bald headed father as possible. Besides, he had been noticing the looks he had been getting from girls recently. Suddenly a strange pain shot through his heart as he 'saw' those eyes again. '_Goddammit! I can't think of the word girl without her coming into my head. What's gotten into me?'_

"Oh ya, an important thing is the people in the city are very religious. The city is ruled by a clan of priests and priestesses. So be respectful to anyone who looks like a holy person" Genma added seriously.

"OK! Who are you and what have you done to my dad? Since when did you show respect to holy people or are you planning on stealing something"

"I just don't want to get on their bad side son."

"Whoa looks like somebody is scared…." Ranma said teasingly.

Genma gave an angry grunt, "Whatever boy! Just remember to behave"

"Like you are the one to talk" Ranma added defensively. 'Since when did his father act all serious on him?'

The gate of the fortress came into their view quite abruptly. They had been walking along the wall when they came to an abrupt right turn and as soon as they turned around, the gate came into their view. It was a forty foot tall wooden gate which operated by three foot diameter wheels at the bottom. 'Where did they get all that wood' Ranma wondered, 'It's a goddamn forest idiot' answered the genius in his head. A couple of guards stood on either side of the gate wearing wooden samurai armor and holding 7 foot tall spears. They also had a Katana each at their hips. "What the heck? Are we in the 16th century?" Ranma muttered to himself before he noticed they also wore a pistol each at their hips. 'Oops my bad! We are in the 19th century!' he thought to himself as they slowly approached the gaurds.

When they were about ten feet away from the gate, "Name yourself and your purpose" shouted one of the guards.

"I am Genma Saotome and this is my son Ranma. We are coming here on an invitation" said Genma removing the figurine from his bag.

The guard gave it a glance, "You may pass. See the building over there? Show the figurine in there and you will receive assistance" he replied nonchalantly.

As he looked past the guard beyond the gate, Ranma could not decide whether the guard was trained to act that way or he just did not care. He gave the guard a final look and he followed Genma into the town.

Ranma blinked to focus his eyes into the town as the sun began to slowly dip beyond the horizon. Though he could not see much Ranma felt that that the town was unlike any of the those he had been before. The few people he spotted looked as if they were trying to finish up their final chores before retiring for the day. That's when the realization struck Ranma, _'There is no electricity in the town. Obviously! since it is so deep inside the forest' _Ranma thought as he entered a brick building behind his father.

The dingy room was lit by a lantern hanging from the side wall and Ranma noticed a grumpy looking middle aged man seated behind a desk. A couple of wooden chairs in front of the desk were the only furniture in the room and the man seemed to have been reading a newspaper when they entered the room.

"How may I help you?" asked the man. '_a little too pleasant for his face'_, Ranma thought. _'Way to be opinionated'_ jeered a voice in his head.

"Ummm…The guard told us to come here" Genma replied blandly before showing him the figurine.

"Oh! Martial arts invitees huh. Let me take a look at the figure" the man asked holding out his hand and Genma obliged.

The man inverted the figure and looked at its bottom.

"H22…Hmmm", he opened a book in front of him "Genma and Ranma Saotome. Invitation for Ranma Saotome – Anything goes school of Indiscriminate grappling… Haha funny name. Although I am amazed that the kid received the invitation. It's the first time in years anyone so young came as an invitee" said the man looking at Ranma with a happier face then he had before they had entered.

"Gimme a sec…" said the man as he opened a door behind him. "Konohaaaa! Come here we have guests" he shouted and turned back to them.

"You must be pretty tired right! You can rest here for today. Someone will be assigned to be your guide tomorrow and along with your permanent boarding" said the man as a middle aged woman came through the door behind him.

"There you are Konoha…give them something to eat and show them to their beds" and the duo followed the wife with a couple of thank yous while the man went back to his seat.

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO

Present:

Ranma woke up the next morning feeling quite happy. He could never feel content, not as long as… 'Anyway I should make Kasumi talk me to sleep every day. That was the best sleep I had in a long time' Ranma thought as he headed downstairs.

Kasumi was bustling around in the kitchen as usual and Ranma watched her admiringly from behind as a sense of peace crept into him.

"You should marry Dr. Tofu and get the hell outta here onee-chan. You have worked enough for the Tendo's, its time you thought about yourself" Ranma told her after a few minutes.

Kasumi jumped and 'eeek'ed. "God Ranma! Don't surprise me like that" Kasumi said turning away from the stove. Suddenly her face turned red as she realized what Ranma had said.

"What are you saying Ranma", Kasumi not looking into his eyes and Ranma laughed at her tomato red face.

"Yeeeaah… you can act innocent with THAT face" Ranma said unable to control his grinning. He did not realize that Dr. Tofu's name would affect her this much.

"Atleast you are not as hopeless as him. You should ask him out on a date!"

"Ranmaa! I don't…Dr Tofu doesn't….Anyway there is nothing like that between us. We are just good friends."

"Are ya CRAZY!! The guy is nuts over you. And people say that I am dumb in these things. It must run in the family. Anyway onee-chan you should make your move. Tofu loses his mind before he can even talk to ya, so you can't go hoping that he would ask you out someday. If you are so scared I can ask him out for ya. 'Dr. Tofu Kasumi wants to go on a date with you. She will meet you at the park at 5:30P.M. Dress up properly and don't forget to bring flowers' How does that sound?"

"Oh! Shut up Ranma. Dr. Tofu…" Kasumi never completed her sentence as they heard someone come down the stairs. It was Akane.

Ranma stared at her. Her eyes were puffy and red – 'uhoh was she crying all night?'. She turned at Ranma and gave him a glare. She donned her shoes and gave him another dirty look before she headed out for her jog. Ranma felt numerous arrows of guilt pierce his heart. He looked back at Kasumi who had gone back to her cooking as if she hadn't even been talking to him.

"Thanks for the help, nee-chan" Ranma said sarcastically.

Kasumi giggled a little, "But Ranma-kun I already talked to her last night. After, you decided to leave us there!" Kasumi replied in her I-am-sweet-and-innocent tone.

"Damn! You nee" Ranma said and rushed behind Akane.

"Haha! He is such a nice kid!" Kasumi said to herself without pausing in her cooking.

****

Ranma spotted Akane after 15 minutes of searching for her. She had taken a different route than usual as if she had expected him to follow her.

"Akane stop!" Ranma shouted after her. Akane did not turn nor did she try to escape.

'The heck' Ranma muttered and ran after her. He caught upto her and started jogging beside her.

"What do you want Ranma! You are annoying me! Buzz off!" she told him angrily after a couple of minutes of silent jogging.

"I just wanna talk, 'Kane"

"What! Want to point out my short-comings again… huh Mr. Self righteous?"

Ranma sighed, "Look! Akane, I am sorry for last night. I was sorta feeling down after I talked to the Baba yesterday and Kasumi was sorta consoling me and then she started talking about herself when you barged in on us shouting about… you know what…which blew my fuse. Kasumi is my…I mean like my sister, Akane! I love and care about her (like a brother) so I got very angry when you accused her. I know that I have no right to say this as I am in no way perfect but you need to control your anger Akane. I know you had a rough childhood and so did I, which is probably why we are both sorta weird… But, you do need to control your anger Akane. Not everyone is strong enough to take on Mallet-sama" said Ranma causing Akane to stop and stare at him

Akane could have never suspected that Ranma was capable of such profoundness.

"You need to control your anger Akane", Ranma persisted "before you seriously hurt someone…if you want I can help ya train. Soul of Ice training could work. Also…"

"Is that all you think of me Ranma?" Akane said with her head lowered. Her voice was bitter and filled with sorrow.

'uh-oh I said something wrong'

"I am sorry Akane. What was I thinking! I can't possibly help ya. You need professional help!"

Tears started flowing out of Akane's eyes as Ranma realized that he had just said something worse. Akane was about to run but Ranma caught her.

"Wait Akane! I am sorry I dint mean any of those things. You know how bad I am with words…this is my short-coming. Please don't cry Akane!" he pleaded. He hated to see a girl cry because of him.

"Ranma…Baka! I am not crying because of what you said to me. I am crying because of what you think of me" she said in a broken voice as she struggled to get free. Ranma did not let go.

"I am only angry when it concerns you Ranma. I get jealous, Ranma. That's why I said those words not because I suspected my own sister. I was jealous because you could confide in her and hug her while you've never even talked to me properly. I have anger issues Ranma. I know that much but its only when you make me jealous. Kasumi made me realize that" Akane said silently as she stopped trying to get away.

Ranma stared at her dumbstruck. He would have never in his right mind expected Akane to say something like that. He did not know what to say nor could he say the words that came to his mind.

"Akane…I…I…" he muttered hopelessly.

This time Akane sighed. "I don't know how you still don't get it Ranma. I get angry and jealous not 'at' you Ranma but 'for' you. Cause I love you Ranma"

Kamitoshi: God-city

Junsei :Truth

OoOoOoO

Beware Readers! The next paragraph is self rant. I am talking about myself here so you don't have to read it if you don't want to.

Ranma ½ is my favorite anime. Not because it's the best out there (I think the best is Rurouni Kenshin) but because Ranma is so much like me. Due to the nature of my father's job I never stayed in one place for too long (just like Ranma). I studied in 9 schools by the time I finished my 12th grade and I am now in my 11th educational institution (quite a feat aiin't it? And I am only 19 now OOO). Anyway you see where I am going. I never got to make good friends which probably made me quite oblivious to my own feelings and emotions let alone others. To me Ranma's character is a reincarnation of my very soul (at least the way I perceive him). I am arrogant, cocky and clueless but at the same time kind and sensitive – (not that I have the right to say that about myself). So when I fell for this girl I decided to write a story on her (Hayley) and Ranma. So basically what I am saying is that I feel that I am Ranma when I writing this story.

Oh ya… also I tend to act all manly most of the time but deep inside I know that there is a feminine side of me (which I refuse to accept—even now!!). Funny thing is there was a time when I used to not eat ice-cream cause I considered it was not manly but I started eating it again after I watched Ranma. The only thing I thing that I am different from Ranma is that I am actually good at school

To readers who hated the above paragraph: I am sorry (don't read it next time).

To others: Thanks for reading it and next time I will give you the story behind Hayley (it's quite pathetic on my part actually)

****

Reviews please....The next chapter won't be such a long wait (if any of you were waiting)


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